


Lyres Lane

by itsaquinnquinnsituation



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, Mindless Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:59:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2139705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsaquinnquinnsituation/pseuds/itsaquinnquinnsituation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In order to rent a studio close to his work, Louis tells his female roommate he's gay. And her best friend has a grand idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lyres Lane

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction, intended for entertainment purposes only. I do not mean to offend or insult anyone. No characters, real or based off real people, belong to me. I am not making money off my work.
> 
> This is my universe and exactly how I see it. Writing should be enjoyed, not judged.
> 
> 3rd person objective.
> 
> I wrote this mindless and dragged out fluff as a knee jerk reaction to taking time to catch up on tumblr feeds and being introduced to this and past year's depressing Blind Gossip articles in the process. I don't know who's telling the truth. Do you?

"And you are seriously thinking of going through with it?”

“Zayn, I don’t think you understand just what kind of place we are talking about. It’s like – literally – two blocks away from my work!”

“In little Greece?”

“Yes! No! Well, yeah on the very edge of it... You know where that gyro place you and I went to last time you were here? On Lyres Lane? Well, the building is right in front of it!”

“Hm. Yeah, there were some gorgeous buildings in that area, I remember I was taking pictures and…”

“My point exactly! Zayn, you cannot find rent that cheap anywhere close to the district! Not to mention, it’s really hard to find an apartment available in that area!”

“And the girl?”

“I don’t really know her. Niall told me that she was looking for a roommate and then suggested us as friends on facebook. I guess she is renting it from a family friend, hence the low rent, but she still can’t afford to live in the studio without a roommate. And – she is very cute.”

“Right. So you’re just gonna tell her you’re gay so she’ll feel safer sharing the studio with you even though you’re thinking of making a move? Which movie have I seen this in before? And what’s Niall going to say?”

“Since when does he care? And Zayn, movies are movies, this is real life.”

Sigh:

“Louis, you’ve changed.”

Beat.

“How?”

“Well, I don’t know. Back in college, you were all about never pursuing people based on looks alone. I remember you used to say it was like shopping for a pair of Levi’s at Macy’s. You said you wished you could find someone who you’d be really good friends with at first, so that you know there’s that solid basis and…”

Louis laughed:

“Yeah maybe, but that’s not realistic! I could be waiting a lifetime for this sort of a situation. Those things are so amazing precisely because they are so rare and unplanned. It’s like – it just happens. But the chances of this happening to any one of us are so small! These days everyone wants to get a quick convenient screw and then keep looking for someone new…”

Zayn interrupted him:

“And is that what you want?”

 

 

“Hey!”

“Fuck! Who is this?”

“It’s me!”

“F….did you look at the time?”

“I know… but I had this grand idea, it’s about the…”

“Tay, I really can’t be talking right now, my roommate is sleeping eight feet away!”

“That’s what I want to talk to you about! You said he’s gay, right? Well, remember that guy I used to date, Harry? You know the one that… yeah, so, I just thought, what if we…”

“Wait” – Eleanor grunted and shivered, throwing back the blanket, stepping on the hardwood floor, tiptoeing to the bathroom, locking it from the inside, turning on the tap and sitting on top of the toilet. – “This better be good” – she hissed.

 

 

They have been looking at the menu for the past fifteen minutes. 

Louis was casting surreptitious glances over the menu at the lad seated across from him. 

The lad was not well-dressed at all and his hair was rather unkempt, but he appeared clean nevertheless. 

Louis was re-reading the description of the same appetizer for the ninth time, incessantly shaking his foot. 

They had already gone through the usual small talk about the weather and the city and even Eleanor – a little laugh about her absent-mindedness and love of Starbucks that even she recognized as excessive. The past three minutes, though, were spent in silence and Louis’ foot was excelling at cancan.

“I’m sorry!” – the lad finally raised his hands with a defeated smile, - “I should have said it much earlier but I just… really hate Indian food!”

“Oh God” – Louis exhaled a laugh. The lad smiled even wider at him, - “As for me, I just really hate their menu.”

“It’s expensive!”

“This place is really pretentious. And stuffy!”

“It’s really cold in here!”

“I hate the music.”

They both laughed until they were almost in tears.

Louis threw him a mischievous glance:

“Quick, Harry, ditch the menu! Let’s go to the McDonalds next door!”

They continued to laugh munching at French fries and Dave’s Hot and Spicy’s.

“I’m sorry but I just hate fancy places!” – Harry shared, - “You have to be so proper and well-mannered and I worry so much I can’t even enjoy my food!”

“I hate the formality of all dinner dates” – Louis chimed in, - “I mean you meet someone for the first time and all you keep thinking about is whether you have a piece of lettuce stuck in your teeth! I’d rather just… I don’t know take a nice walk?”

“We can do that, too” – Harry laughed, - “Oh, and you do have something on your lip! Looks like it’s mayo!”

Louis made a rude gurgling noise with his drink before almost choking on laughter whilst taking the napkin from Harry’s hand. 

 

 

Six hours later, Louis was walking up the stairs to the apartment he shared with Eleanor, still chuckling to himself and shaking his head. 

 

 

“I need your help!”

“If this is about your little “lying thing”, you can hang up right now. I warned you that this would not end well!”

“Zayn, please.”

“What, did you bed her?”

“No! No! She still thinks that I’m gay.”

“Right. So when are you going to tell her? Did you get to know her better? What’s been going on?”

“No. The thing is… it’s… been… I don’t even know. Well, I know that I don’t like her. I mean, I like her, she is a nice girl, but I am not interested. She is pretty and sweet and generous and all but….”

“But what? Was this not the purpose of your plan?”

“It was… but I was also interested in living close to my work… Anyway… this is not… Zayn, there’s something else…”

“Go on.”

“She set me up on a date. A sort of a blind date. I was so… taken aback by her suggestion that I go out with this guy, I couldn’t come up with an excuse fast enough.”

“She set you up to go on a date with a guy? A gay guy?”

“Well, yeah. In her mind, I am a single gay guy. So I guess I went.”

“What? With whom?”

“Her best friend’s ex-boyfriend.”

“What?”

“Well, I guess they broke up because he realized he was gay. Or so Eleanor told me. I didn’t ask the guy because that would have been awkward.”

“Okay? And?”

“I don’t know.”

“Louis? What the hell? What are you trying to tell me?”

“I don’t know! Zayn! Fuck! I don’t know!” – he rubbed his neck, then switched the telephone into the other hand, - “He’s been… becoming a very good friend.”

“Is this why you have been MIA?”

“We’ve been talking on facebook and… I’ve been seeing him once or twice a week for the past month. Just… going to baseball games or playing soccer or… for a barbecue.”

“A barbecue?? Are you insane? You are leading on a gay guy who is the ex-boyfriend of your roommate’s best friend?”

“He’s been fine!” – Louis waved his hands frantically as if shooing him away, - “He… has not made a move… I don’t know. It was… like it was weird when we just met but then… it was like we’ve been best friends forever… like so easy to talk to him and all and I…Maybe he is fine with us being friends…. I don’t know” – he shut up and looked up at the ceiling.

“Now you are not just lying to your roommate, who you, thank god, are no longer interested in. Now you are playing with another human’s feelings.”

Louis put his hand over his face and shook his head. He whispered:

“I don’t know, Zayn. I just really don’t know.”

 

 

“Eleanor?”

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Harry. I got your number from Taylor, I hope that you don’t mind.”

“Oh. No, no… and it’s weird…. I would have thought you already had my number.”

“Yeah… I… Eleanor, I need to tell you something. I can’t keep it to myself anymore and I don’t want to implicate anyone else in this story besides those who already know… and I… Oh fuck” – he paused, - “I’m sorry I didn’t even ask how you were doing. I’m sorry. I had it all planned out what I was going to say, I’m just… I need to talk to you about something.”

“It’s okay” – Eleanor said, picking up her plate of omelette off the kitchen counter, walking over to the bathroom, setting the plate on the edge of the sink before locking herself in, turning on the water, sitting down on top of the toilet and taking the plate again, - “Take your time.”

“I need to talk to you about Louis. Your roommate. Or actually Taylor and me. It started when… the… the thing is… when Taylor and I met, I really liked her as a person and wanted to be her friend. But I had the feeling she wanted more. I guess I kind of gave in because sometimes I really cannot say ‘no’ but… something was off. Well, I’m sure she told you. It just really was not clicking somehow. So I… I did not want to hurt her… for her to think that like… there was something wrong with her, ‘cause she is a nice girl, but… so I… Fuck, I don’t know why I did it, it was so fucking stupid but I… told her that I… thought I might be gay.”

“And?”

“That was not true. I just did not want for her to feel that she was not good enough for me somehow. So I thought that if I were gay, that would hurt her less. And we have been good friends, only… I’m not gay, never identified as gay and the worst part is that now…”

Eleanor interrupted with a shriek:

“You what? You have been lying to my best friend? To make her feel better? And why may I ask… oh, you probably had someone else, am I right? So you just told Taylor you were gay? ‘Cause what, she could not have taken a simple ‘let’s be friends’?”

“Eleanor! God! Yes! She can! We have been good friends for over a year! Only I did not know this at the time, we really have only known each other for two weeks before we tried dating! But right now, none of this matters! I am only telling you now, because I want to just be honest about the whole thing, like everything, because I was lying to her and…Eleanor, listen, I need to tell you something about your roommate! I need to tell you something important about him!”

“No! You know what? Stay away from us all! From me, my friend, and my roommate! I can’t believe Tay was friends with a liar like you for this long and even tried to help you get to know a nice guy! This is just sick! And don’t try to call me anymore, I will not pick up!”

She hung up, stood up, lifted the toilet lid and threw the rest of her omelette in. 

 

“Zayn?”

“Yeah?”

“I bet you know why I’m calling.”

“I can imagine. That’s all you’ve been talking about for the past…oh, 4 weeks.”

“Yes, but there have been some developments. He texted me.”

“Yeah? Did you ask him why he did not respond to you earlier? And why Eleanor could have told you to stay away from him?”

“No. I didn’t want to. At this point, I did not want to risk doing anything that could make him disappear again.”

“Did he explain why he disappeared?”

“No. Just asked to meet him at that park we went to on our first… date.”

“That does not sound good.”

“I think he might be… I’ve been thinking… well, like I told you Zayn, he…. He is a very serious guy and…. I bet he was just… like thinking if he might want a relationship with me and now…. Now I think he is going to ask me.”

“Great. So now the volcano is going to erupt.”

“I…. am not sure.”

“Excuse me? You are not planning to tell him even now? When are you going to tell him? When you two are married and with kids?”

“I… Zayn, I don’t know how to… it’s just that all this time whilst he was away, I have been… missing him so terribly that it’s been eating away at my heart. And you know, how I’ve been talking to you, trying to talk to El and even reaching out to Taylor to talk about it and… he has… he really has become my best… well, not… I guess you still *are* my best friend – my best *long distance British* friend – but he has become my best local friend and I… cannot imagine not having him around. I cannot let him go. Not now.”

“Lou… what the hell? What are you saying? Are you gay?”

“No! No, of course not. It’s not about that at all! I have never been like… you know… but when I think of meeting him now – oh, and I am so glad I don’t have to be telling you this face to face – I get so nervous I feel like I am going to faint.”

“Lou. You are confused. You need to clarify some things for yourself. And as soon as possible. You need to be very damn clear. Because if he really does ask you out and you do accept, this would mean that…. I hope that you know what this is going to mean.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I…do. I need to. I need to clarify it. I’m gonna try something. I’m gonna try to set these things right.”

 

 

“You sure you are not mad at me?”

“No. Well, I was. A little. At the very beginning. ‘Cause it would have been nice to hear it from you, not from her. But it’s like – gosh, do you really think I would have not accepted it? Although… huh, that would have been if it were the other way around, if you were…. But you are… but with Louis, it’s… isn’t it kind of…kind of…?”

“Taylor. Don’t. I really need to…”

“Right…. You better go, I think I just saw him step out of the bus.”

“I still can’t believe you brought binoculars.”

She saluted:

“Always prepared!”

“Right, well, then I’m off.”

“Wait. Harry” – she lowered her big reflective sunglasses and leaned closer to him, - “There’s something I am going to need to tell you. Later. After I tell Elie. ‘Cause I have to tell her first. But I will tell you too. Later.”

He looked at her with raised eyebrows, then stepped out of the car.

 

 

“Louis?”

They waved at each other, proceeding slowly. Louis was blinking hastily, Harry was staring with intent. 

They didn’t hug or shake hands, just stood there with Harry pressing his lips and Louis looking down. 

“You have been MIA” – Louis said finally.

“Yeah, I know” – Harry replied. They stood in silence for another minute.

“I need to t….”

“I have to tell you something” – Harry said almost at the same time and gave him a sheepish smile. 

“Yeah, me too” – Louis returned the smile and looked down again, - “Something very important. Parts of it you might not like but…”

“Let me start, because what I did… and why I did not respond to you and why Eleanor…”

“No Harry, I better start, because you might…. Not want to….”

“Lou, there’s only one thing I just want to be clear on, no matter how…”

“I have to tell you this before we both…. Before either of us can get hurt and I…”

“What Eleanor might have told you was only partially…”

“Harry, there’s one thing I’ve been… not entirely honest about…it’s that…”

“Louis, I…”

“Harry, please let me….”

“Lou, I just want to…”

“Look, Harry I….”

“Oh, forget it, if you are not gonna let me talk!”- Harry barked out under his breath before lunging at Louis, grabbing him by the back of the neck and pulling him in. He kissed him desperately and with fervor, the kind that made Louis whimper and raise his hands in an apparent defence, only to land them just on the sides of Harry’s waist. When they separated, Louis had tiny tears in the corners of his eyes. 

“This was the thing I wanted to be clear on. Before you… start with whatever you were going to say… are we clear?”

“Oh yeah” – Louis choked out, lifting himself up on his tippy-toes and leaning his head back into the crook of Harry’s elbow, Harry’s arm now encircling his shoulders, - “Clear as day. Yes, we are.”

 

 

Several feet away, Taylor put down her binoculars, gave out another tiny chuckle, before, suddenly, losing her smile as she turned to the female who had just climbed into the passenger seat of her car.

“Elie?”

“How is it going?”

“Rather well. Don’t think they got any talking done though, they have been making out for the past fifteen minutes.”

“What? Making out? Oh my God, let me see…. where...? oh fuck…. FUCK! Tay, I thought he… how the hell… so, is he gay?”

“Harry or your roommate?”

“Harry, of course! Wait… what?” – Eleanor put down the binoculars and raised her brows at Taylor.

“Nah, I don’t think either of them is” – Taylor shrugged her shoulder and fixed her beret, - “But you do not have to be gay to fall in love with another person. And they are definitely in love. The nice kind of love. You know where you are best friends first and then… it just kind of happens?”

“Yeah… the thing everyone dreams about” – Eleanor sighed, - “… doesn’t happen too often.”

“Yeah” – Taylor sighed in return and took a big breath, - “I need to tell you something. Maybe it wouldn’t matter, maybe it will be something awful but…. Since Harry has been so brave, I thought I should too because I feel like I have been lying to you and… the thing is... Harry and I broke up because we both felt something was wrong. So yes, he told me he was gay to make me feel better, only… only I felt it was something with me. I lied to him and acted like I was upset… maybe that’s why he came up with that stupid excuse, but… But… I have not told anyone at the time and… I’m pretty sure it’s not Harry who’s gay, it’s me.”

Eleanor just stared, then:

“What??”

“It’s not all, Elie. I’m sorry this is a lot at once, but… I might be in love with someone… with… I think I might be…”

“Don’t. Before you say anything, before you make it weird and awkward… You know how I let you call me ‘Elie’ even though I hate when people mess with my name?”

“I thought that…?”

“And how we spend hours doing our make-up saying that we are going to go out on a Saturday night only to stay home, watch stupid movies and fall asleep in your bed?”

“Yeah, I love that, we have so much f…”

“And how I bring you Indian food even though I hate it?”

“You *hate* it?? I hate it too, I thought you told me you liked it, that’s why…”

“I lied. I assumed *you* liked it because we first met at an Indian buffet. But… you know how I bought a bottle of your favorite perfume, even though I never wear it? It’s not that I like it… or well, I learnt to like it because it just sits on my dresser so I can smell it on those nights when you’re back at yours.”

“Oh.”

“And how I have been single for like... almost two years? Like ever since I met you?”

“Fuck” – Taylor tilted her head and shook it, - “Fuck, I have been so very stupid.”

Eleanor tilted her head the other way and nodded gently:

“Yeah. Yeah, me too.”

“Funny. Funny” – Taylor said, leaning in and closing her eyes, - “This is like a… like a scene out of a movie…”

Whisper:

“And does your movie end well?”

Whisper back:

“I think so.”


End file.
